THE 

NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS 
INADEQUATE 


By  ROBERT  E.  SPEER,  M.  A. 


THE  NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS 
INADEQUATE  TO  MEET 
THE  NEEDS  OF  MEN 


An  address  delivered  befora  ihe  Rfth  International  Convention  of  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  March  I,  1906. 


ROBERT  E.  SPEER,  M.  A.  I %(.•(- 


STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
125  EAST  TWENTY-SEVENTH  STREET 
NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1906 
Student  Volunteer  Movement 
^or  Fofttgn  Missions 


The  Non-Christian  Religions  Inadequate 
to  Meet  the  Needs  of  Men 

It  is  of  course  as  Christians  that  we  approach  this  question. 
On  grounds  of  history  and  of  reason  and  of  personal  experience 
we  hold  unswervingly  to  the  Evangelical  faith.  But  this  fact 
does  not  incapacitate  us  for  a just  judgment  of  the  non- 
Christian  religions.  Men  must  inevitably  approach  these  re- 
ligions with  some  preconceptions,  either  the  preconceptions  of 
agnosticism,  or  the  preconceptions  of  atheism,  or  the  preconcep- 
tions of  earnest  religious  faith ; and  the  fact  that  we  have  already 
entered  into  deep  sympathy  with  the  religious  needs  of  mankind 
does  not  constitute  a disqualification  for  judging  the  great  re- 
ligions of  the  non-Christian  races.  No  intellectual  bias  prevents 
us  from  believing  that  we  can  fairly  judge  whether  or  not  the 
non-Christian  religions  are  adequate  to  the  needs  of  men. 

And  just  as  we  are  not  prohibited  from  this  discussion  by 
any  intellectual  bias,  we  are  not  incapacitated  for  it  by  any  pre- 
judiced sentiment.  We  love  the  non-Christian  nations  more 
than  the  atheists  and  the  agnostics  love  them.  We  understand 
them  better  than  those  who  have  never  gone  forth  to  live  among 
them  and  to  lay  down  their  lives  for  them  understand  them. 
And  in  the  light  of  our  sacrifices  for  the  non-Christian  peoples, 
the  fact  that  we  are  engaged  in  a great  aggressive  Ccimpaign  to 


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NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


displace  and  transcend  their  religions  does  not  create  any  pre- 
sumption that  we  are  incapacitated  by  prejudice  from  judging 
justly  whether  these  religions  can  meet  the  needs  of  men. 

There  are  some  considerations  on  which  we  shall  not  rest 
our  conviction  that  the  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate 
to  meet  the  needs  of  men.  We  shall  make  very  little  of  the  obvious 
fact  that  great  masses  of  men  have  broken  away  from  these  re- 
ligions. I think  the  new  character  these  men  have  attained 
makes  their  testimony  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  religions  under 
which  they  had  lived  valid  testimony.  But  we  do  not  urge  as 
against  the  non-Christian  religions  the  defection  of  their  own 
sons;  for  men  have  broken  away  from  Christianity,  and  what  we 
will  not  allow  against  Christianity  we  have  no  right  to  urge  as 
against  the  non-Christian  faiths. 

Neither  will  we  rest  our  contention  on  the  alleged  superior- 
ity or  real  superiority  of  what  we  call  Christian  civilization  over 
the  civilizations  that  have  been  developed  under  the  non-Chris- 
tian religions.  For,  first  of  all,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a real 
Christian  civilization.  We  believe  that  the  civilization  that  we 
call  Christian  is  vastly  superior  to  the  non-Christian  civilizations, 
but  it  is  not  Christian.  It  is  at  the  best  merely  a midway  re- 
sultant of  the  divine  force  pulling  upward  and  the  dead  inertia 
of  human  sin  and  evil  holding  down.  And  we  realize  quite 
clearly  that  other  elements  than  religion  enter  into  the  making  of 
civilization.  Racial  and  climatic  elements  enter.  And  we  dare 
not  overpress  the  argument  for  the  superiority  of  Christian  civil- 
ization until  we  have  first  learned  to  differentiate  the  sources  from 
which  that  which  we  call  civilization  springs.  Alas!  there  arc 
many  of  us  who  are  none  too  proud  of  what  we  describe  by 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


5 


this  name.  We  would  all  share  the  conviction  that  our  civil- 
ization is  superior  to  the  greatest  of  the  non-Christian  civil- 
izations; and  yet,  even  in  this  contrast,  1 think  we  must  hang  our 
heads  in  shame,  as  we  look  back  over  the  last  hundred  years. 
We  must  confess,  for  example,  that  in  spite  of  her  stupidity  amd 
her  crime,  the  great  Empire  of  China  has  borne  her  wrongs  with 
a patience  and  a self-control  that  we  must  fear  would  never 
have  characterized  our  Western  peoples.  Yes,  even  of  that 
great  upheavel  of  six  years  ago,  we  must  still  say  that  given 
such  provocation,  the  Boxer  Uprising  itself  was  tame  and 
childlike  in  comparison  with  the  rage  that  we  Western  peoples 
would  have  felt  against  wrongs  so  hideous  and  so  infamous  as 
those  from  which  China  suffered.  We  will  not  rest  our  con- 
tention that  the  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to  meet 
the  needs  of  men  on  any  overpressure  upon  the  superiority  of  our 
Christian  civilization  as  against  the  civilizations  of  the  non-Christian 
world. 

Nor,  in  the  third  place,  do  we  intend  to  rest  this  conten- 
tion on  the  declaration  that  the  non-Christian  religions  are  pro- 
ducts of  the  evil  one.  A case  might  be  made  out  tor  that  con- 
tention. I remember  very  well  a statement  of  Dr.  Nevius  at  the 
first  Student  Volunteer  Convention  in  Cleveland — and  he  was 
a grave  and  a sober  man,  and  had  lived  for  many  years  among 
a people  whom  he  truly  loved,  and  among  whom  he  numbered 
many  of  his  truest  friends — that  the  bitter  experiences  of  his  life 
convinced  him  that  the  non-Christian  religions,  instead  of  being 
steps  in  an  upward  evolutionzuy  movement  of  man  toward  the 
truth,  were  in  practical  effect  just  what  St.  Paul  had  described 
them,  devices  by  which  men  fell  away  from  the  truth  and 


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NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


covered  it  over  in  the  interests  of  lies.  Indeed,  in  his  book, 
"China  and  the  Chinese,”  he  says  plainly  of  the  religious  systems 
of  that  Empire,  “These  forms  of  idolatry,  while  they  evidence 
God’s  revelation  of  Himself  in  the  human  soul,  are,  with  the 
most  consummate  art,  so  devised  as  to  lead  the  soul  farther  and 
farther  from  God  and  to  turn  the  truth  of  God  into  a lie.” 
And  it  might  be  urged  further  in  support  of  some  such  po- 
sition, that  we  should  only  be  ranging  ourselves  with  the  con- 
sistent position  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  from  the  first  to  the 
last.  ' The  modern,  tolerant,  easy-going  attitude  of  some 
students  of  comparative  religion  is  not  the  attitude  of  the  He- 
brew prophets,  nor  of  the  Apostles  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  never 
saw  in  the  idolatry  of  men  any  upward  moving  of  men’s  hearts 
toward  a purer  faith.  They  denounced  that  idolatry  as  puerile, 
as  childish,  as  ignominious,  as  false,  as  sinful.  The  prophets 
saw  in  all  the  faiths  around  them  before  Christ  came — and  all 
the  great  faiths  of  the  world,  whether  known  to  the  prophets 
or  not,  were  here  then,  save  Islam — they  saw  in  those  faiths,  just 
as  the  Apostles  saw  in  them,  merely  a falling  away  of  men  from 
a primitive  and  clear  vision  of  the  only  living  God  and  Father 
of  mankind.  But  I will  not  press  this  view.  I know  there  are 
many  of  us  who  would  feel  that  to  press  such  a view  betokened 
such  an  inveterate  prejudice  against  the  non-Christian  religions 
as  to  make  any  calm  judgment  of  them  an  impossible  thing. 

Neither,  yet  once  more,  are  we  going  to  rest  our  contention 
on  the  claim  that  there  is  no  good  in  the  non-Christian  religions. 
Of  course  there  is  good  and  truth  in  the  non-Christian  religions. 
It  is  the  good  and  the  truth  that  is  in  the  non-Christian  religions 
that  has  enabled  them  to  survive,  that  gives  them  their  great 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


7 


power;  but  regarding  this  good  and  truth  which  we  joyfully 
admit  in  all  the  non-Christian  religions,  several  great  facts  are  to 
be  recalled.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  great  truth  in  the  non- 
Christian  religions  which  is  not  found  in  a purer  and  richer  form 
in  the  Christian  religion.  It  is  true  that  Hinduism  teaches  the  im- 
manence of  God;  it  is  true  that  Mohammedanism  teaches  the 
sovereignty  of  God;  it  is  true  that  Buddhism  teaches  the  transi- 
toriness of  our  present  life;  it  is  true  that  Confucianism  teaches 
the  solemn  dignity  of  our  earthly  relationships  and  our  human 
society.  But  are  not  all  these  truths  in  Christianity  also?  And 
in  Christianity  each  one  of  these  truths  is  balanced  by  its  just 
corrective,  which  is  absent  from  the  non-Christian  religions. 
Hinduism  teaches  that  God  is  near,  but  it  forgets  that  He  is 
holy.  Mohammedanism  teaches  that  God  is  great,  but  it  for- 
gets that  He  is  loving.  Buddhism  teaches  that  this  earthly  life 
of  ours  is  fleeting,  but  it  forgets  that  we  must  therefore  work  the 
works  of  God  before  the  night  comes.  Confucianism  teaches 
that  we  live  in  the  midst  of  a great  framework  of  holy  relation- 
ships, but  it  forgets  that  in  the  midst  of  all  these  we  have  a living 
help  and  a personal  fellowship  with  the  eternal  God,  in  whose 
lasting  presence  is  our  home.  And  in  the  second  place,  the 
setting  in  which  these  truths  are  found  in  the  non-Christian  re- 
ligions makes  them  often  not  a help  but  a positive  hindrance 
to  men.  It  is  just  the  fragment  of  truth  that  there  is  in  the  non- 
Christian  religions — I speak  as  a matter  of  sober  fact,  and  I think 
I can  appeal  to  the  experience  of  most  of  missionaries  with  re- 
ference to  this — it  is  just  that  truth  which  constitutes,  not  the 
leading  on  of  men’s  hearts  to  the  larger  truth,  but  that  widj 
which  men’s  hearts,  already  loving  sin,  satisfy  themselves  as 


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NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


against  the  claims  and  appeals  of  the  larger  truth.  Of  course,  it 
is  this  truth  which  in  honest  hearts  gives  us  our  point  of  contact 
and  sympathy,  but  it  is  often  harder  to  convince  of  error  the 
man  with  the  half  truth  than  it  is  the  man  with  nothing  but 
demonstrable  error.  And  in  simple  fact  it  is  the  partial  truth  in 
the  non-Christian  religions  which  is  made  a reason  on  the  part 
of  those  who  cling  to  those  religions  for  not  abandoning  their 
error  and  accepting  the  perfect  truth  of  Christianity.  The  pos- 
session of  half  truth  is  valuable  in  a man  who  is  ready  to  go  on 
to  the  whole,  but  it  is  a positive  hindrance  to  the  man 
who  is  satisfied  with  it  and  refuses  to  leave  it  for  the  truth  that 
is  complete.  And  beyond  all  these  things,  the  non-Christian  re- 
ligions, with  all  their  good,  are  yet  seamed  through  and  through 
with  great  and  positive  and  hideous  evils.  I am  frankly  ready 
to  admit  that  there  are  great  evils  in  our  Christian  lands,  but 
there  is  one  profound  and  distinctive  difference  between  our 
Christian  lands  and  the  non-Christian  lands.  The  great  evils 
under  which  we  suffer  here  are  all  of  them  directly  condemned 
t>y  our  religion,  and  are  practiced  in  the  face  of  its  prohibitions, 
while  the  great  evils  from  which  the  non-Christian  people  suffer 
are  imbedded  in  their  religions  and  derive  their  most  terrible 
power  from  the  religious  sanctions  by  which  they  are  surrounded. 

I can  illustrate  this  readily  with  one  cardinal  fact  out  of 
each  of  the  great  non-Christian  religions. 

1 have  in  mind,  first  of  all,  the  positive  immorality  of  Hin- 
duism. You  can  put  it  in  grand  words,  if  you  like,  such  as 
those  Macaulay  uses  in  the  introduction  to  his  famous  speech  on 
The  Gates  of  Somnauth:  “As  this  superstition  is  of  ail  super- 

stitions the  most  irrational,  and  of  all  superstitions  the  most  in- 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


9 


elegant,  so  it  is  of  all  superstitions  the  most  immoral.  Emblems 
of  vice  are  objects  of  public  worship.  Acts  of  vice  are  acts  of 
public  worship.  TTie  courtesans  are  as  much  a part  of  the 
establishment  of  the  temple,  as  much  the  ministers  of  tlie  gods, 
as  the  priests.  Crimes  against  life,  crimes  against  property,  are 
not  only  permitted  but  enjoined  by  this  odious  theology.  And 
if  you  do  not  want  it  put  in  Maiaulay’s  grand  way,  you  will 
find  it  cogently  expressed  in  Mr.  Msredith  Townsend  s essay  on 
“The  Core  of  Hinduism,”  where  he  is  dealing  especially  with 
Vivekananda’s  representations  at  the  Parliament  of  Religions. 
There,  and  in  other  essays,  Mr.  Townsend,  the  present  editor 
of  the  London  “Spectator,”  for  years  a resident  of  India,  and  a 
careful  student  of  its  life,  complains  that  the  great  curse  of 
India  is  just  what  he  says  is  the  worst  idea  of  all  Asia,  namely, 
that  morality  has  no  immutable  basis,  but  is  deemed  by  every 
man  a fluctuating  law,  and  that  it  is  a characteristic  of  the  Hindu 
mind  that  it  is  able  to  hold,  and  actually  does  hold,  the  mo«*’ 
diametrically  opposite  ideas,  as  though  all  such  ideas  were  true: 
and  that  the  great  weakness  in  Hinduism,  making  it 

utterly  insufficient  for  the  needs  of  men,  is  the  absolute  want 
of  that  ethical  reality  which  is  one  of  the  essential  characteristic.^ 
of  Christianity,  the  absolute  want  of  any  vinculum 

binding  religious  faith  to  moral  life.  This  explains 
why  the  holiest  city  of  India  is  so  vile.  This  explains 

why  it  was  necessary  for  the  British  government  by  statute 

to  prohibit  the  obscenities  of  public  worship  in  India.  But  the 
British  government  has,  not  cleansed  al!  the  holy  places.  I 
suppose  that  of  all  the  obscene  carvings  in  the  world  there  are 
none  more  loathsome  than  the  friezes  around  the  temple  of  the 


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NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


Rajah  of  Nepal,  in  the  holiest  city  of  Hinduism,  on  the  bank 
of  its  most  sacred  river.  Even  some  of  the  great  languages  of 
Hinduism  have  no  adjective  for  chaste,  as  applied  to  men.  Can 
an  unclean  religion  be  adequate  for  the  needs  of  sinful  men? 

I speak,  in  the  second  place,  of  the  sterility  and  unprogres- 
siveness  of  Buddhism.  Now  here  is  a religion  which,  as  Dr. 
Kellogg  would  say,  deliberately,  “stamps  human  nature  as  evil, 
not  because  it  is  sinful,  but  simply  because  it  exists,  for  all  exist- 
ence is  evil;”  a religion  that  pronounces  our  holiest  relationships, 
husband  and  wife,  father  and  child,  evil  relationships,  and  that 
tells  every  man  who  would  attain  Nirvana  at  the  last  that  he 
must  cut  loose  from  such  things;  a religion  that  deliberately  de- 
nies the  most  necessary  convictions  of  our  minds,  that  pronoun- 
ces our  consciousness  of  personality,  our  belief  in  our  possession 
of  a soul  simple  delusions;  a religion  that  condemns  our  holiest 
ambitions  to  eternal  punishment.  It  is  facts  like  these  that  ex- 
plain why  no  Buddhist  nation  ever  has  fought  a great  unselfish 
war — they  have  fought,  but  not  unselfishly — why  no  Buddhist 
nation  has  ever  set  up  a patent  office,  why  no  Buddhist  nation 
has  ever  wrought  a great  achievement.  Buddhism  has  just 
held  men  tight  in  the  clasp  of  its  denial  of  the  reality  of  our 
present  life.  Can  a dead  religion  be  adequate  for  the  needs 
of  living  men? 

I refer,  in  the  third  place,  to  the  puerility  and  the  childish- 
ness of  those  great  Shamanistic  and  fetishistic  religions  which  the 
people  of  Africa  follow,  which  the  people  of  Korea  have  fol- 
lowed, which  have  constituted,  so  far  as  the  Chinese  may  be 
said  to  have  any  religion  at  all,  the  actual  religion  of  the  Chinese 
people.  Here  are  religions  that  have  absolutely  no  answer  to 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


II 


give  to  the  intellectual  problems  of  men.  the  problem  of  a 
man’s  origin,  the  problem  of  his  destiny;  that  have  nothing  to 
say  to  man  about  his  social  relationships  or  the  foundations  of 
his  moral  life.  Dr.  E.  H.  Richards  says  that  the  terms  for  sin 
and  love  do  not  occur  in  many  of  the  African  languages.  A man 
would  speak  of  loving  his  wife  with  exactly  the  same  word  that 
he  would  use  of  wanting  his  food.  Can  religions  whose  languages 
contain  no  words  for  “sin”  and  “love”  adequately  meet  the 
needs  of  suffering  and  hungering  men  ? 

I refer,  once  again,  to  the  stagnation,  the  impotence,  and 
the  moral  inferiority  of  Mohammedanism.  You  may  turn,  if 
you  like,  to  Mr.  Bosworth  Smith’s  “Mohammed  and  Moham- 
medanism.” the  most  effective  and  persuasive  apology  for  Is- 
lam ever  written  in  English,  and  Mr.  Smith  has  to  admit,  when 
he  comes  to  his  comparisons  at  the  end.  that  there  are  in 
Christianity  whole  realms  of  thought,  and  whole  fields  of 
morals,  that  are  all  but  outside  the  religion  of  Mohammed:  that 
Christianity  teaches  men  ideals  of  personal  purity,  of  humility, 
of  forgiveness  of  injuries,  of  the  subjection  of  the  lower  life  to 
the  demands  of  the  higher  life,  ideals  which  are  absolutely 
foreign  to  Mohammedanism;  that  it  sets  before  men  possibili- 
ties of  progress  and  boundless  development  of  the  mind  such  as 
Mohammed  never  dreamed  of;  that  in  the  various  paths  of 
human  attainment  the  characters  that  Christianity  has  developed 
have  been  greater,  more  many-sided,  more  holy,  than  any  of  the 
characters  that  Islam  has  produced.  Mr.  Bosworth  Smith  him- 
self has  to  admit  as  much  as  this,  that  the  great  religion  for 
which  he  is  saying  the  best  that  can  be  said  is  a religion  that  for 
1,200  years  has  been  sterile  intellectually.  And.  what  is  worse 


12 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


than  that,  Mohammedanism  is  held  by  many  who  have  to  live 
under  its  shadow  to  be  the  most  degraded  religion,  morally,  in 
the  world.  We  speak  of  it  as  superior  to  the  other  religions 
because  of  its  monotheistic  faith,  but  I would  rather  believe  in 
ten  pure  gods  than  in  one  God  who  would  have  for  his  supreme 
prophet  and  representative  a man  with  Mohammed’s  moral 
character.  Missionaries  from  India  will  tell  you  that  the  actual 
moral  conditions  to  be  found  among  Mohammedans  there  are 
more  terrible  than  those  to  be  found  among  the  pantheistic  Hin- 
dus themselves,  and  the  late  Dr.  Cochran  of  Persia,  a man  who 
had  unsurpassed  opportunities  for  seeing  the  inner  life  of  Moham- 
medan men,  told  me,  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  that  he  could 
not  say,  out  of  his  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  as  a doctor 
with  the  men  of  Persia,  that  he  had  ever  met  one  pure-hearted 
or  pure-lived  adult  man  among  the  Mohammedans  of  Persia. 
Can  a religion  of  immorality,  of  moral  inferiority,  meet  the  needs 
of  struggling  men? 

It  is  not  pleasant  to  speak  of  these  things.  I am  not 
speaking  of  them  because  a Christian  man  finds  any  joy  in  de- 
'nouncing  these  evils  in  the  non-Christian  religions.  We  would 
denounce  these  evils  if  we  found  them  in  our  own  land;  we 
speak  no  more  harshly  about  them  in  other  lands  than  we  speak 
about  them  in  our  own.  But  we  will  not  let  the  fact  that  these 
great  evils  are  cloaked  by  religious  sanctions  abroad  compel  us 
to  speak  of  them  with  less  condemnation;  we  will  speak  of 
them  with  more  condemnation  because  they  are  imbedded  in  the 
midst  of  those  very  forces  out  of  which  men’s  whole  hope  of 
holiness  must  flow.  I can  honestly  say  that  for  myself  I 
should  like  to  believe  that  the  non-Christian  religions  are  ade- 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


13 


quate  to  the  needs  of  men.  I should  like  to  believe  that  God 
is  finding  the  hearts  of  His  sons  and  that  His  sons  are  finding  the 
heart  of  their  Father  in  all  of  these  great  non-Christian  religions. 
But  what  we  would  like  to  believe  must  not  be  allowed  to 
blind  us  to  the  facts  that  we  must  believe,  and  the  facts 
force  us  to  acknowledge  that  we  stand  in  the  face  of  a thousand 
millions  of  our  fellowmen  who  are  held  in  the  grip  of  religions 
absolutely  inadequate  to  meet  their  needs,  religions  that  con- 
stitute, not  educational  influences  leading  them  on  to  a better 
faith,  but  the  greatest  barriers  betwen  them  and  the  acceptance 
of  the  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ. 

For,  looking  at  the  matter  more  generally,  what  are  the 
great  needs  of  men  that  a religion  must  meet? 

Man  has  his  intellectual  needs.  As  Mr.  Ruskin  says  in 
a note,  there  are  three  great  questions  that  inevitably  confront 
every  man:  Where  did  I come  from?  Whither  am  I going? 

What  can  I know?  Men  must  have  those  questions  answered. 
All  over  the  world  every  honest,  thoughtful  man  is  confronted 
by  the  great  problems  of  his  origin  and  his  duty  and  his  destiny. 
The  non-Christian  religions  have  no  satisfying  message  to  speak 
to  such  seeking  men.  Their  philosophies  of  the  world  may  stand 
for  a little  while  in  any  metaphysical  discussion,  but  they  col- 
lapse, they  are  passing  before  our  eyes,  at  the  touch  of  the 
physical  sciences.  Philosophies  of  the  world  that  cannot  endure 
contact  %vith  reality  cannot  satisfy  the  intellectual  needs  ol 
men. 

The  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to  meet  the 
moral  needs  of  men.  In  the  first  place,  the  non-Christian  re- 
ligions do  not  dream  of  presenting  a perfect  moral  ideal  to  men. 


14 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


Mr.  Bosworth  Smith  goes  on,  in  the  same  chapter  which  I was 
quoting  just  a moment  ago,  to  say:  “When  I speak  of  the  ideal 
life  of  Mohammedanism,  I must  not  be  misunderstood.  There 
is  in  Mohammedanism  no  ideal  life  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
for  Mohammed’s  character  was  admitted  by  himself  to  be  a 
weak  and  erring  one.  It  was  disfigured  by  at  least  one  huge 
moral  blemish;  and  exactly  in  so  far  as  his  life  has,  in  spite 
of  his  earnest  and  reiterated  protestations,  been  made  an  example 
to  be  followed,  has  that  vice  been  perpetuated.  But  in  Christian- 
ity the  case  is  different.  The  words,  ‘Which  of  you  convinceth 
me  of  sin?’  forced  from  the  mouth  of  Him  who  was  meek  and 
lowly  of  heart,  by  the  wickedness  of  those  who,  priding  them- 
selves on  being  Abraham’s  children,  never  did  the  works  of 
Abraham,  are  a definite  challenge  to  the  world.  That  challenge 
has  been  for  nineteen  centuries  before  the  eyes  of  unfriendly,  as 
well  as  of  believing  readers,  and  it  has  never  yet  been  fairly 
met;  and  at  this  moment,  by  the  confession  of  friend  and  foe 
alike,  the  character  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  stands  alone  in  its  spot- 
less purity  and  its  unapproachable  majesty.’’  And  this  is  true  of 
all  the  non-Christian  religions.  Confucius  never  dreamed  of  set- 
ting himself  up  as  a moral  ideal  for  men.  The  idea  never 
crossed  Buddha’s  thought;  and  as  for  the  Hindu  gods,  we  are 
better  gods  ourselves  than  they  are.  I mean  that  our  moral 
characters  are  superior  to  the  moral  characters  of  the  Hindu 
gods.  Can  such  religions  satisfy  the  moral  needs  of  men  ? 

Not  only  do  the  non-Christian  religions  erect  before  the 
eyes  of  men  no  perfect  moral  ideal,  but  they  do  not  offer  to  men 
any  living,  transforming  power  by  which  the  ideals  that  they 
do  present  can  be  realized.  No  great  non-Christian  teacher 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


15 


ever  spoke  to  men  such  words  as  Christ  spoke.  “He  that  eateth 
my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  hath  eternal  life.”  “Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I will  give  you 
rest.”  “I,  if  I be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me.”  But  even  if  you  suppose  that  the  non-Christian  re- 
ligions did  make  upon  men  a perfect  ethical  demand,  of  what 
value  is  it  to  a man  to  have  a perfect  ethical  demand  made  upon 
him?  His  own  conscience  already  makes  ethical  demands  upon 
him  beyond  his  ability  to  reply.  What  men  need  is  not  a fresh 
moral  demand.  What  men  need  is  a fresh  moral  re-enforce- 
ment, a power  in  their  wills  to  enable  them  to  attain  the  ideals 
which  are  held  out  before  them.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  come  to 
create  a new  set  of  moral  obligations;  He  did  not  come  to  mul- 
tiply the  number  of  “oughts”  under  which  life  was  to  be  lived; 
He  came  to  give  men  more  power  to  fulfil  the  “oughts”  under 
which  they  already  lived.  The  non-Christian  religions  are  impo- 
tent to  meet  the  moral  needs  of  man,  because  not  only  do  they 
hold  up  before  him  no  perfect  moral  ideal,  but  they  offer  him  no 
sufficient  power  to  attain  even  the  best  ideal  which  they  do 
present. 

They  are  inadequate  to  meet  his  moral  needs  because  there 
is  in  them  no  conception  of  sin.  A religion  that  has  no  idea 
of  a holy  God  cannot  have  any  idea  of  a sinful  man.  It  is  be- 
cause under  the  non-Christian  religions  men  have  no  conception 
of  such  a God  as  Christ  disclosed  that  they  have  never  sat  down 
in  the  midst  of  shame  and  sorrow  at  the  hideousness  of  their  sin. 
And,  of  course,  with  no  message  showing  man  the  reality  of 
sin,  the  non-Christian  religions  have  no  message  of  deliverance 
and  of  forgiveness. 


16 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


And  further,  the  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to 
man’s  moral  needs  because  they  are  all  morally  chaotic.  I mean 
more  than  one  thing  by  that.  I mean,  for  one  thing,  that  there 
never  was  a consonance  between  the  best  ideal  and  the  reality 
in  the  non-Christian  religions.  No  great  non-Christian  religious 
teacher  ever  lived  up  to  his  own  ethical  Ideals,  and  that  chasm 
which  was  real  in  the  beginning  is  becoming  a wider  and  wider 
chasm  with  the  years.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  there  is  no 
Christian  country  in  the  world;  it  is  true  that  there  is  no  so- 
ciety that  entirely  embodies  in  itself  the  principles  of  Christ.  But 
there  is  this  great  difference  between  the  Christian  societies  and 
the  non-Christian  societies.  The  gulf  between  the  ideal  and  the 
actual  in  the  non-Christian  world  is  widening  every  year,  while 
the  gulf  in  the  Christian  world  is  narrowing  with  each  passing 
generation.  » The  people  of  the  non-Christian  lands,  most  of 
them,  have  sunk  ethically  below  the  level  in  which  they  were 
when  their  great  religious  teachers  arose.  There  never  was  an 
era  in  the  history  of  the  world  when  Christian  lands  were 
as  near  to  the  moral  ideals  of  Christ  as  they  are  to-day.  It  is 
true  that  Christianity  is  not  pure,  but  Christianity  has  in  itself  the 
self-purifying  power;  and  whereas  all  the  non-Christian  religions, 
instead  of  being  steps  upward,  are  degenerating  from  the  great 
catastrophic  moral  upheavals  from  which  they  sprang,  the 
Christian  religion  moves  on  in  a steady  ascending  stream  toward 
the  great  fountain  from  which  first  of  all  it  came. 

Yet  once  again,  the  non-Christian  religions  break  down  at 
the  very  central  and  fundamental  point.  They  have  not  per- 
ceived the  inviolable  sacredness  of  truth.  “Verily,”  said  Mo- 
hammed, “a  lie  is  allowable  in  three  cases:  to  women,  to  re- 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


I> 


concile  friends,  and  in  war.”  And  the  god  Krishna  himself,  in 
one  of  the  Hindu  sacred  books,  the  Mahabharata,  declares  that 
there  are  five  different  situations  in  which  falsehood  may  be 
used:  in  marriage,  for  the  gratification  of  lust,  to  save  life,  to 
secure  one’s  property,  or  for  the  sake  of  a Brahman.  In  these 
cases,  says  Krishna,  falsehood  may  be  uttered.  "These  five 
kinds  of  falsehood,”  he  states,  “have  been  declared  to  be  sin- 
less.” Let  the  story  of  “The  Forty-seven  Ronins”  testify  to  the 
failure  of  Japanese  religion  to  perceive  and  enforce  the  inviol- 
ability of  truth.  Now,  if  there  is  one  place  where  religion  and 
the  men  of  religion  meet  their  certain  testing  it  is  here.  Here  are 
two  of  the  great  non-Christian  religions  which  deliberately  pro- 
claim that  no  man  is  under  obligation  to  tell  the  truth  to  women. 
Both  proclaim  that  there  are  cases  in  which  lies  are  justified. 
Now  there  is  nothing  in  this  world  that  is  absolutely  sacred  and 
inviolate  but  truth.  Human  life  is  not  sacred  and  inviolate;  God 
is  wiping  it  out  like  water  every  day,  and  that  which  is  not  sacred 
and  inviolate  to  God  may  not  be  sacred  and  inviolate  to  man. 
But  there  is  one  thing  that  to  God  Himself  is  absolutely  and  in- 
violately  sacred;  God  cannot  lie,  and  what  God  cannot  do  no 
religion  dare  pronounce  to  be  allowable  in  the  sons  of  God.  Any 
religion  or  religious  teacher  proclaiming  the  possibility,  the  allow- 
ability of  lies,  excavates  the  foundations  under  human  confi- 
dence, under  all  living  faith  in  a real  God,  and  makes  impossible 
an  answer  to  the  moral  needs  of  men. 

And,  once  more,  the  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to 
meet  man’s  moral  need  because  they  have  no  adequate  sanctions 
buttressing  morality.  You  cannot  support  morality  on  the  basis  of 
pantheism;  it  liquifies  the  sanctions  of  morals.  You  cannot  do  it 


18 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


on  a basis  of  such' hard  monotheism  as  Islam  because  in  actucil 
fact  it  kills  the  moral  restraints.  Dr.  H.  O.  Dwight,  of  Con- 
stantinople, was  speaking,  a little  while  ago,  of  a voyage  which 
he  took  in  the  Levant  with  a Turkish  ofBcial  as  they  sat 
down  in  the  cabin  at  the  dinner  table  the  Turkish  official,  in- 
viting Dr.  Dwight  to  drink  with  him,  said:  “You  may  think  it 

strange  that  I,  a Mohammedan,  should  ask  you,  a Christian,  to 
drink  with  me,  when  winedrinking  is  forbidden  by  our  religion. 
I will  tell  you  how  I dare  to  do  this  thing.”  He  filled  his  glass 
and  held  it  up,  looking  at  the  beautiful  color  of  it,  and  said: 
“Now,  if  I say  that  it  is  right  to  drink  this  wine,  I deny  God’s 
commandments  to  men,  and  He  would  punish  me  in  hell  for  the 
blasphemy.  But  I take  up  this  glass,  admitting  that  God  has 
commanded  me  not  to  drink  it,  and  that  I sin  in  drinking  it. 
Then  I drink  it  off,  so  casting  myself  on  the  mercy  of  God.  For 
our  religion  lets  me  know  that  God  is  too  merciful  to  punish  me 
for  doing  a thing  which  I wish  to  do,  when  I humbly  admit  that 
to  do  it  breaks  His  commandments.”  His  religion  furnished 
this  pasha  with  no  moral  restraints  or  power  for  true  character. 
Theorists  about  Mohammedanism  may  talk  to  their  heart’s  con- 
tent, 5,000  miles  away  from  actual  Mohammedanism,  about 
the  effects  of  a pure  monotheistic  faith  upon  morals.  The  simple 
fact  is  that  the  pure  monotheistic  faith  of  Islam  has  not  prevented 
a horrible  tarn  of  immorality  over  all  the  Mohammedan  world. 
Neither  that  lifeless  monotheism  nor  the  pantheism  of  the  other 
non-Christian  religions  can  furnish  the  sanctions  By  which  alone 
moral  behavior  can  be  sustained. 

And  just  as  the  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to 
meet  alike  the  intellectual  and  the  moral  needs  of  men,  so  they  are 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


19 


utterly  inadequate  to  meet  the  social  needs  of  men.  Religions 
which  deny  to  one-half  of  society  the  right  to  the  truth  cannot 
meet  the  social  needs  of  mankind.  Religions  which  proclaim 
that  women  may  be  lied  to  sinlessly  are  anti-social  in  the  very 
principles  upon  which  they  rest,  and  I should  be  almost  willing 
to  rest  the  whole  case  against  the  adequacy  of  the  non-Christian 
religions  here.  There  is  not  in  one  of  the  non-Christian  religions 
any  thing  like  the  Christian  home.  A woman  missionary  from 
Japan  spoke  recently  of  the  pathetic  desire  of  many  people  in 
Japan  to  learn  about  the  constitution  of  the  Western  home.  As 
she  went  to  and  fro,  she  said,  even  among  the  country  villages 
she  always  found  the  people  eager  to  sit  down  with  her  and 
talk  about  the  home.  They  had  heard  of  a better  social  or- 
ganization than  theirs,  and  they  were  anxious  to  know  where 
the  secret  of  it  was  to  be  found.  More  than  one  Japanese 
statesman  in  earlier  days  beheld  a revelation  in  Christian  home 
life.  We  hold  here  in  our  Christian  faith  the  one  secret  of  a 
pure  social  life,  speaking  with  reference  to  the  relation  of  sex  to 
sex  and  of  the  adult  to  the  child.  The  non-Christian  re- 
ligions condemn  women  in  principle  or  legal  right  to  the  place  of 
chattel  or  of  slave.  TTie  very  chapter  in  the  Mohammedan 
Bible  which  deals  with  the  legal  status  of  woman,  and  which 
provides  that  every  Mohaunmedan  may  have  four  legal  wives, 
and  as  many  concubines  or  slave  girls  as  his  right  hand  can  hold, 
goes  by  the  title  in  the  Koran  itself  of  “The  Cow.”  One  could 
get  no  better  title  to  describe  the  status  of  woman  throughout  the 
non-Christian  world.  I gladly  acknowledge  the  exceptions,  but 
I am  setting  forth  the  general  facts  and  principles.  - A religion 
which  denies  to  woman  her  right  place  in  society,  which  even 


20 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


proclaims  that  no  woman,  as  a woman,  can  be  saved,  as 
Buddhism  does  proclaim,  cannot  meet  the  social  needs  of 
humanity. 

These  religions  cannot  meet  the  social  needs  of  men  be- 
cause they  are  absolutely  incapable  of,  and  inconsistent  with, 
progress.  Now  there  are  three  great  elements  in  religion:  the 

element  of  fellowship,  the  element  of  dependence,  and  the 
element  of  progress.  The  non-Christian  religions,  I grant,  satisfy 
man’s  sense  of  dependence,  but  they  have  no  message  to  deliver, 
as  I hope  to  show  in  a moment,  to  his  need  of  fellowship;  and  I 
say  here  that  they  have  no  word  to  speak  to  his  absolute  neces- 
sity of  progress.  Each  one  of  the  non-Christian  religions  to- 
day is  bound  up  with  a degenerating  civilization;  and  the 
peoples  who  live  under  the  non-Christian  religions  are  making  no 
progress,  are  even  slipping  socially  backward,  save  as  they  break 
free  from  these  old  restraints  and  feel  the  transforming  power  of 
the  Christian  principles.  This  is  true  of  Islam.  Have  you  ever 
thought  upon  the  significant  fact  that  almost  all  the  deserts  of 
the  world  are  under  the  faith  of  Islam?  Wherever  Mohammed- 
anism has  gone,  it  has  either  found  a desert  or  has  made  one. 
Twelve  hundred  years  ago  it  bound  down  all  human  life  in 
the  Arabian  institutions  of  the  seventh  century,  and  until  this 
day,  and  so  long  as  Mohammedanism  abides  in  the  world,  oro- 
gress  will  be  Inconsistent  with  that  faith.  It  is  just  as  Lord 
Houghton  put  it: 

“So  while  the  world  rolls  on  from  age  to  age 
And  realms  of  thought  expand. 

The  letter  stands  without  expanse  or  ’■ange. 

Stiff  as  a dead  man’s  hand.’’ 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


21 


And  that  which  is  true  of  Mohammedanisir  essentially 
true  of  all  the  non-Christian  religions.  Not  one  of  them  is  cap- 
able of,  or  consistent  with,  progress.  Japan  offers  nr  exception. 
“Japan,”  said  the  “Japan  Mail,”  not  long  ago,  “is  an  in- 
teresting country.  It  has  been  an  interesting  country  for  the  last 
forty  years.  The  moribund  condition  of  its  only  religious  creed 
is  certainly  not  the  least  interesting  feature  of  its  modern  career.” 
Japan’s  progress  has  sprung,  not  from  Buddhism,  but  from  an 
abandonment  or  modification  of  Buddhism. 

And  yet  once  more,  the  non-Christian  religions  are  inade- 
quate to  the  social  needs  of  men  because  every  one  of  them 
denies  the  unity  of  mankind,  Hinduism  with  its  caste,  Confu- 
cianism with  its  conceit,  Islam  with  its  fanatical  bigotry,  and 
Buddhism  with  its  damnation  of  all  women.  It  was  given  to 
Buddha  in  his  destiny  never  to  be  bom  in  hell,  or  as  vermin,  or 
as  a woman.  “A  Brahman,”  says  the  Code  of  Manu,  the 
highest  Hindu  law  book,  “may  take  possession  of  the  goods  of 
a Sudra  with  perfect  peace  of  mind,  since  nothing  at  all  be- 
longs to  the  Sudra  as  his  own.”  “The  system  of  caste  which 
is  one  of  the  most  characteristic  institutions  of  Hinduism  and  the 
basis  of  Hindu  Society,”  says  the  Bishop  of  Madras,  Dr. 
Whitehead,  “is  a direct  denial  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  The 
idea  that  the  Brahman  is  the  brother  of  the  pariah  is  contrary  to 
the  first  principles  of  Hinduism,  and  abhorrent  to  the  Hindu 
mind.  Whatever  enthusiasm  there  may  be  for  brotherhood  in 
the  abstract,  it  stops  short  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  Brahman 
and  the  pariah.  To  apply  to  Hindu  society  the  principle  of 
Christian  brotherhood  would  mean  a social  revolution;  and  it 
is  for  this  practical  reason  that  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  India 


22 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


is  so  bitterly  opposed.  The  western  dress  has  little  or'^  nothing 
to  do  with  it:  the  real  ground  of  the  opposition  is  the  funda- 

mental principle  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.”  To  be  sure,  the 
phrase,  “The  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,” 
is  a common  phrase  throughout  the  world,  and  some  of  our 
Oriental  visitors  used  it  as  a very  familiar  phrase  in  Chicago, 
at  the  Parliament  of  Religions  years  ago;  but  the  ideas  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  are  alien  to  all 
the  non-Christian  nations.  Both  of  these  great  conceptions  are 
sheer  plagiarisms  from  the  Christian  revelation.  When  all  the 
world  comes  to  us  to  borrow  our  ohrases,  it  only  makes 
confession  of  its  own  lack  of  the  conceptions  which  those  phrases 
imply.  Every  one  of  the  non-Christian  religions  cuts  humanity 
up  into  sections  and  bars  from  privilege  great  bodies  of  man- 
kind. 

And  now,  lastly,  just  as  the  non-Christian  religions  are  in- 
adequate to  meet  the  intellectual  and  the  moral  and  the  social 
needs  of  man,  so  they  are  inadequate  to  meet  his  spiritual  needs. 
For  one  thing,  all  these  non-Christian  religions  are  practically 
atheistic.  Dr.  Dwight’s  pasha’s  god  amounts  to  no  god  at  all. 
Hinduism  has  333,000,000  gods,  but  the  man  who  has  333,- 
000,000  gods  has  no  god  except  himself.  Buddhism  deliberate- 
ly denies  the  existence  of  any  god.  “Buddha,”  says  Max  Miil- 
ler,  “denies  the  existence,  not  only  of  the  Creator,  but  of  any 
absolute  being.  As  regards  the  idea  of  a personal  Creator, 
Buddha  seems  merciless.”  . These  great  non-Christian  religions 
have  no  satisfying  word  to  speak  to  man  about  God.  They 
represent,  as  they  actually  are — and  this  is  the  most  charitable 
view  that  you  can  take  of  them — they  represent  the  groping 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


23 


search  of  man  after  light.  They  show  us  the  non-Christian 
peoples  stumbling  blindly  around  the  great  altar-stairs  of  God.  the 
more  pitiably  because  they  do  not  know  that  they  are  blind.  As 
over  against  all  these,  Christianity  stands  as  the  loving  quest  of 
God  after  man,  the  full,  rich  revealing  of  His  light  and  life,  the 
unfolding  of  His  love  toward  His  children,  whom  He  has  come 
forth  to  seek  in  a way  of  which  none  of  the  non-Christian  re- 
ligions has  ever  conceived. 

They  are  inadequate  to  meet  the  spiritual  needs  of  men, 
because  they  have  never  taught  men  to  say  “Father.”  Not 
one  of  the  great  non-Christian  religions  contains  the  conception 
of  God’s  loving  fatherhood.  By  so  much  as  we  love  to  call 
Him  Father,  by  so  much  as  we  delight  to  kneel  down  alone,  in 
all  the  joy  of  our  own  dear  and  loving  intimacy  with  Him,  and 
call  Him  by  the  precious  name  in  which  Christ  revealed  Him,  by 
so  much  are  we  under  the  noble  duty  to  make  our  Father 
known  to  all  our  Father’s  children  throughout  the  world. 

And  these  non-Christian  religions  are  inadequate  to  meet 
man’s  spiritual  need,  also,  because  they  speak  to  him  no  word 
of  hope.  Mohamedanism  has  no  word  of  hope  to  speak  to 
him.  When,  after  a little  while,  the  honest  man’s  heart  has 
revolted  from  its  idea  of  a sensual  paradise,  whither  can  he  turn 
for  hope,  except  where  poor  Omar  turned? 

“One  moment  in  annihilation’s  waste. 

One  moment  of  the  well  of  life  to  taste. 

The  stars  are  setting,  and  the  caravan 

Starts  for  the  dawn  of  nothing.  Oh,  m2dce  haste.’ 

What  better  syllable  of  hope  does  the  Mohammedan  world 


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NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


know?  And  some  of  you  will  recall  the  lines  of  the  old  lOiK- 
lore  song  in  southern  India: 

“How  many  births  are  past  I cannot  tell; 

How  many  yet  to  come  no  man  can  say. 

But  this  alone  I know,  and  know  full  well. 

That  pain  and  grief  embitter  all  the  way.” 

In  those  first  days,  when  Christianity  first  shone  on  men,  men 
realized  that  the  great  hope  was  the  hope  of  Christ,  that  mose 
who  were  without  Christ  were  without  God,  and  also  witnout 
hope.  I know  it  is  narrow  to  speak  so  to-day;  but  we  are  con- 
tent to  be  as  narrow  as  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  Savior;  and  as 
Paul,  the  greatest  heart  that  ever  went  out  to  make  Him  known 
to  the  world.  The  world  without  Christ  is  a spiritually  hopeless 
world. 

And  now,  if  anything  needs  to  be  added  to  what  I have 
said,  I think  it  may  be  put  briefly  in  two  simple  statements. 

In  the  first  place,  the  great  non-Christian  religions  are  con- 
fessing their  inadequacy,  even  in  our  own  ears.  I have  seen  my- 
self— and  my  life  has  been  no  long  life — I have  seen  great  non- 
Christian  religions  die.  I have  seen  Confucianism  slain  in 
Korea.  I have  seen  Shintoism  publicly  degraded  from  me 
status  of  a religion  to  a mere  code  of  court  etiquette  in  Japa.i. 
We  are — all  of  us  are — witnessing  now  one  of  the  greatest  re- 
ligious transformations  that  ever  took  place  in  the  non-Chnsuan 
world  passing  over  Hinduism.  There  is  a very  interesting  letter 
in  the  “ Life  of  Phillips  Brooks,”  written  from  Calcutta  to  nis 
brother  Arthur,  after  Phillips  Brooks  had  had  an  interview  with 
Keshab  Chander  Sen.  Phillips  Brooks  thought  that  he  saw  »n 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


25 


the  rise  of  the  Brahma  Somaj  a great  schism  running  tnrougti 
Hinduism  that  was  to  issue  in  a reform  movement  that  wouit 
bring  up  in  India  great  masses  of  men  to  a pure  theistic  convic- 
tion, from  which  they  would  be  ready  to  step  over  into  a 
Christian  faith.  If  you  will  compare  the  actual  facts  to-day  won 
Phillips  Brooks’  prophecy,  you  will  see  that  he  misread  not  ai 
all  unnaturally,  but  entirely,  the  signs  of  the  coming  days.  Why  f 
Hinduism  has  so  readjusted  itself  as  to  make  it  unnecessary  for 
the  Brahmos  to  revolt  from  it.  It  has  simply  made  room  in 
its  expansive  folds  for  the  ethical  conceptions  of  Christianity,  so 
that  it  is  comfortable  for  a man  who  wants  to  hold  those  concep- 
tions to  stay  inside  the  Hindu  faith  and  live  the  Hindu  life,  u 
that  is  his  desire.  Hinduism  is  engaged  in  a great  apologetic 
adaptation.  All  the  great  non-Christian  religions  are  disin- 
tegrating, or  undergoing  some  form  ot  significant  transformation. 
What  Mr.  Griffith  Jones  says  in  “The  Ascent  Through  Christ 
is  manifestly  true:  “The  nations  called  Christian  are  everywhere 
pressing  hard  upon  all  other  nations.  Western  civilization  in  an 
directions  is  disintegrating  both  the  customs  of  savage  nations  ana 
the  more  stable  civilization  of  the  East,  and  it  is  everywhere  being 
shown  that  in  this  general  break-up  of  old  and  effete  orders  tfiere 
is  an  imminent  peril.  For  where  our  civilization  penetrates  witn- 
out  our  religion  it  is  Invariably  disastrous  in  its  effects.  It  never 
fails  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  subject  races  in  their  own 
creeds  and  customs,  without  furnishing  anything  in  place  of  their 
sanctions  and  restraints.  The  result  is  everywhere  to  be  seen 
in  the  way  in  which  heathen  nations  neglect  our  virtues  and 
emulate  our  vices.  The  advice  sometimes  given  to  the  mission- 
ary, therefore,  to  leave  the  people  to  whom  he  ministers  to  their 


26 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


simpler  faith,  is  beside  the  mark.  These  faiths  are  inevitably 
going — soon  they  will  be  gone — and  the  question  presses,  what 
then?  If  history  proves  anything,  it  proves  that  a nation  without 
a faith  is  a doomed  nation;  that  it  cannot  hold  together;  that 
it  inevitably  decays  and  dies.  From  this  point  of  view  alone, 
then,  there  is  a tremendous  responsibility  laid  upon  us.  The 
impact  of  our  civilization  is  breaking  up  the  fabric  and  under- 
mining the  foundations  of  the  ethnic  religions.  Without  religion 
of  some  sort,  nations  must  perish.  Therefore  we  must  see  to  it 
that  we  give  something  in  the  place  of  what  we  take  away,  and 
that  something  must  be  the  Christian  faith,  or  it  will  be 
nothing.” 

We  stand  in  the  midst  of  a great  world  of  wrecked  re- 
ligions. Heresy  after  heresy  has  shot  schism  upon  schism 
through  what  we  used  to  look  upon  as  the  solid  mass  of  Moham- 
medanism, and  all  the  other  non-Christian  religions  are  attemp- 
ting, in  greater  or  less  degree,  to  transform  themselves  beneath 
our  eyes.  They  are  confessing,  every  one  of  them,  their  inade- 
quacy to  meet  the  needs  of  men. 

And,  last  of  all,  I might  say  what  would  have  saved  us  all 
of  this  discussion,  if  said  at  the  beginning.  For  us  Calvary 
closes  this  question.  All  the  non-Christian  religions,  except  Mo- 
hammedanism, which  in  actual  consequence  rejects  and  suoer- 
sedes  Christ  and  therefore  condemns  itself — all  the  non-Christian 
religions  except  Mohammedanism  were  here  when  Jesus  Christ 
came.  If  the  missionary  enterprise  is  a mistake,  it  is  not  ''ur 
mistake ; it  is  the  mistake  of  God.  If  the  laying  down  of  life  i" 
the  attempt  to  evangelize  the  world  is  an  illegitimate  waste,  let 
the  reproach  of  it  rest  on  that  one  priceless  Life  that  was 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


27 


therefore,  laid  down  needlessly  for  the  world.  Nineteen 
hundred  years  ago,  to  the  best  of  all  the  non-Christian  religions 
— the  religion  between  which  and  all  the  other  non-Christian 
reb'gions  a great  gulf  is  hxed — Judaism.  Jesus  Christ  came;  and 
that,  the  best  of  all  religions.  He  declared  to  be  outworn  and  in- 
adequate. Tire  time  had  at  last  come.  He  taught,  to  sup- 
plant it  with  the  full  and  perfect  truth  that  was  in  Him.  It  will 
be  enough  for  us,  quietly,  as  men  and  women  who  love  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  whom  He  is  in  no  sham  and  unreal  way  Master 
and  Lord — it  will  be  enough  for  us  to  recall  His  own  great 
words:  "I  am  the  good  shepherd.”  “All  that  came  before  me 
are  thieves  and  robbers.”  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world.”  “I 
am  the  way,  and  the  truth  and  the  life:  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  Me.”  “No  one  knoweth  the  Son,  save  the 
Father;  neither  doth  any  know  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and 
he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  Him."  We  bow  our 
heads  beneath  the  cross  on  which  our  Savior  hung,  and  for  us 
no  other  word  needs  to  be  spoken  regarding  the  absoluteness  of 
His  faith  and  the  inadequacy  of  the  half-teachers  who  have  gone 
before  Him,  or  who  were  to  come  after  Him.  No  word  needs 
to  be  spoken  to  us  beyond  His  word,  “I  came  to  save  the 
world,”  and  the  great  word  of  the  man  who  had  loved  Him 
dearly,  whose  life  had  been  changed  from  weakness  into  strength 
by  His  power,  and  who  was  to  die  in  His  service:  “And  in 
none  other  is  there  salvation:  for  neither  is  there  any  other 

name  under  heaven,  that  is  given  among  men,  wherein  we  must 
be  saved.” 

As  the  owners  and  the  bearers  of  that  name,  how  can  we 
withhold  from  the  hearts  of  men  the  sufficient  message  of 


28 


NON-CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS  INADEQUATE 


their  Father’s  life,  their  Father’s  love,  made  known  alone  in 
our  only  Lord  and  Savior,  Jesus  Christ? 


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Other  addresses  delivered  at  the  Fifth  International  Convention 
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